A multi-modal approach to study acute myeloid leukaemia

About the Project

Lead supervisor:Dr William Grey

Co-supervisors:Dr Anjum Khan

The student will be registered with the Department of Biology

Acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) remains the most lethal blood cancer, with long-term survival under 10% in older patients. Standard therapies are largely unchanged and recently approved molecularly targeted agents typically benefit only subgroups for limited time. A major challenge is the inability of current clinical and genomic tools to accurately predict therapy responses, leading to relapse, high toxicities and poor quality of life. Central to treatment failure is the persistence of therapy-resistant leukaemic stem cells (LSCs) which drive relapse, but are poorly characterised by conventional genomic and transcriptomic approaches.

This PhD will use complementary modalities to provide a transformative framework for a new understanding of AML biology, towards development of clinically actionable, predictive biomarkers.

You will work within the Centre for Blood Research at the York Biomedical Research Institute, surrounded by world-leading haematology research groups. You will also benefit from the state-of-the-art technology facility at York and integration with the National Mouse Genetics Network and U.K. Patient Derived Xenograft Biobank.

More information about the research group can be found at proteostem.co.uk

The University of York is committed to recruiting future scientists regardless of age, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, disability, sexual orientation or career pathway to date. We understand that commitment and excellence can be shown in many ways and we have built our recruitment process to reflect this. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly those underrepresented in science, who have curiosity, creativity and a drive to learn new skills.

The Department of Biology holds an Athena SWAN Gold Award. We are committed to supporting equality and diversity and strive to provide a positive working environment for all staff and students.

Entry Requirements: Students with, or expecting to gain, at least an upper second class honours degree, or equivalent, are invited to apply. The interdisciplinary nature of this programme means that we welcome applications from students with any biological, chemical, and/or physical science backgrounds, or students with mathematical background who are interested in using their skills in addressing biological questions.

Programme: PhD in Biomedical Science (3 year)

Start Date: 21 September 2026

Funding Notes

Students need to have adequate funds to cover 3 years of tuition fees and living expenses.